


First Sleepover

by schwaampy



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Misunderstanding, Romance, ShuMako Week 2020, Tiny mention of lewd, shumako, sleepover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:08:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22255429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schwaampy/pseuds/schwaampy
Summary: Ren invites his girlfriend over Cafe Leblanc for the night, her very first sleepover. Makoto consults her journal in advance for advice on what to expect. Misunderstandings abound as they try to predict each other's intentions.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist, shumako - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	First Sleepover

Makoto knew, perhaps more than any of her Phantom Thief teammates, the importance of a good night’s sleep. Whereas Ryuji, for example, would spend hours playing video games and watching anime until well past midnight, or Ann would talk with her friends on the phone until they both fell asleep with the call still on, Makoto never wavered in preparing herself for a perfect eight hours of rest, no matter the circumstances. Even in the worst case scenarios, she still managed to get _at least_ seven and a half. 

“A good night’s sleep is better than breakfast at making sure you start the day off well,” her dad said after she mistakenly stayed up past curfew once. It was to catch the series finale of _The Adventures of Buchimaru-kun,_ and Makoto couldn’t resist being a bit rebellious for the first time in her life. The episode was everything she had dreamed it would be, but after it was finished, she realized her mistake. When Makoto’s father knocked on her bedroom door to signal her to go to bed, her heart nearly skipped a beat. In the years following her father’s passing, Makoto never disobeyed his advice. 

Until, of course, that one fateful Saturday evening when Ren invited Makoto to stay with him at Leblanc, the first time he had invited her over for the night, and Makoto’s first official sleepover in all her years of existence. As an eighteen-year-old high school student, Makoto had stellar marks on all her report cards, a spotless permanent record, hours upon hours of community service, and an impressive amount of leadership experience, but she had never experienced wistfully recalling childhood memories with a close friend over their house. She never had a friend with whom nostalgic feelings came naturally. While her peers were having sleepovers, Makoto was studying and taking care of her family, learning to be responsible and mature well before anyone else had to. 

By this time, Makoto and Ren had been dating for about three months, and Ren had already become her best and closest friend. They confided in each other and kept no secrets. In an effort to get to know each other better, they even took on each other’s hobbies: Makoto taught Ren some of the basics of aikido, while Ren introduced Makoto to video games like Super Smash Bros. Their friendship exceeded even their teammates’ expectations of them. 

Because of her vast unfamiliarity with sleepovers, relationships, and friendships in general, Makoto did what she always did before confronting a brand new experience: she consulted her journal. A relentless note-taker, Makoto studied human interactions just as she did her subjects in school, with vigor and a complete attention to detail. Even at a young age, she desperately wanted to be accepted by others, but found herself unable to cross an invisible social barrier between her and the rest of the world. Her journal presented a possible solution. 

Makoto sat on a subway bench, waiting patiently for her train to arrive. It was Saturday, the day she would be staying in Ren’s attic with him, and she sought reassurance from her fifteen-year-old self’s thoughts. Opening her personal journal to one of its first pages, titled “On the Subject of Sleepovers,” Makoto scanned her surroundings to see if anyone would hear her voice if she read quietly to herself. Sometimes the sound of her own muffled voice brought her comfort, as if by vocalizing her feelings, she was forcing herself to believe them.

With no one in her immediate vicinity, Makoto began reading. 

“Though I have yet to be invited to a sleepover (Note to self: Maybe present myself a bit friendlier to people?), I think it would be wise to prepare myself for one, should the occasion ever arise where I am invited, as unlikely as that may seem. Let’s begin.”

_Oh Makoto... You’re always so dramatic._

“A sleepover is an activity that close friends engage in when they have reached a certain level of closeness with each other. It necessitates a certain commitment to the person you are sharing the sleepover with. If you ever reach such a closeness with another person, make sure to watch yourself, Makoto, so that you don’t get burned by them.” 

_Why was I so cynical?_

Makoto skipped forward a few paragraphs, unable to listen any further.

“Most of all, beware of sleepovers with other boys. From what I have heard at lunch and around the school, teenage boys only seem to care about one thing, and that’s taking advantage of young girls. It’s absolutely deplorable. Avoid boy sleepovers at all costs, Makoto.”

Hearing her repeat her name aloud with such a poignant reminder, Makoto abruptly closed the journal and shoved it into her bookbag. 

_That’s... enough of that. I can’t believe I once felt that way..._

Despite her best intentions, Makoto was unable to stop thinking about her younger self’s reminder. As she entered the stopped subway car, Makoto’s mind buzzed with possibilities. _What does he really plan on us doing together?_

_I wonder if he wants to... Well, you know... Like I feared..._

_Oh gosh..._

_Oh man..._

_...Am I ready for this?_

_It’s not that I don’t want to, you know... It’s just... I thought..._

_I really thought we would... maybe, talk this over beforehand..._

_Oh Ren..._

_I should text him._

Encircled by her own paralyzing thoughts, and surrounded by passengers on the train over to Yongen-Jaya, Makoto pulled out her phone and texted her boyfriend a simple question, hoping his answer would ease some of her nerves. 

“Hey, what do you want to do tonight?” she said. A few seconds later, she sent an innocent smiley emoji. 

Of course, Makoto had no idea what to expect, as one idea came to her mind, an idea she didn’t necessarily reject or disagree with, but one she wanted to clarify beforehand, just in case it was actually part of Ren’s plans. It completely stumped her. 

At school, during a relatively boring lunch period, they decided to relax together later that night, but Ren didn’t give any indication of what they would be doing aside from relaxing. _Relaxing could mean laying in each other’s arms as the evening winds down, or it could mean watching movies together in the attic with a fresh cup of coffee, or it could mean... Well... Something else._

Not even a minute later, his response arrived. 

“You’ll see :)” 

Makoto sighed and facepalmed, enough to alert the people standing next to her, as her palm hit her bangs and parted her hair further away with a loud smacking sound. _That doesn’t help at all... And that smiley face could mean anything. Why does he have to be this way?_ An unmistakable pout formed on her face, one that could be spotted from a mile away. She looked into her phone’s camera to make sure she didn’t mess up her hair too much, and instead found a dissatisfied countenance. The strangers around her had already averted their looks elsewhere. Makoto feared the worst, as she often did, and picked up her things to move further down the subway track. 

Shortly afterwards, while still looking at her camera app, Makoto noticed another notification pop up. 

“It’s a surprise for you!” Ren said. 

_I hate surprises._

* * *

“Hey, nice to see you,” Makoto told her boyfriend with a warm smile. 

It was a Saturday night, and Makoto had just walked through the doorway into Leblanc past its closing hours. She could smell ground coffee beans and loose cat hair. The radio on the counter played a lowkey, jazzy tune that Ren must have picked out himself. The piano swooned as a trombone continued a solo for what seemed to be the entire track. 

Taking herself away from the haze that the song put her in, Makoto quickly realized that something was wrong. Sojiro and Futaba must have been at home, no customers were around, and Mona was absent, quite suspiciously, even though she could sense traces of him. It was 6pm, not early enough to close down shop. _Unless Ren put in a special request... Boss would certainly understand if he said that we were going to..._

“Where’s Mona?” asked Makoto, interrupting her own thought process. Craving an answer rather than another misdirection, Makoto’s face turned serious, eyebrows furrowed and pointed.

Noticing Makoto’s change in expression, Ren’s face blushed. He didn’t intend for her to feel this way before their first sleepover, and he wanted to ensure she was as comfortable as possible with what they were about to do together. He had requested that Boss and Mona disappear for the evening, but if Makoto knew that, she might get the wrong idea. 

“Oh, Mona... had a few things to do. He’ll be back later. Don’t worry about him,” Ren said, before draping his arm around her shoulder, while shining his trademark smile in her direction. “Let’s just worry about us tonight, alright?” 

_He probably thinks he’s so slick, sending Mona away for a few hours so we can be alone. Wouldn’t want a third wheel around, after all, and if my suspicions are correct, Mona would just make things really awkward._

Feeling slightly relaxed with his body leaning on hers, Makoto returned the favor, putting her arm around Ren’s shoulder in a quiet, romantic gesture. She felt at ease for a moment. However, her elbow clunked against his forearm on the way up, and she had trouble finding a good spot to rest on. A few seconds later, after realizing how fruitless her attempts were, Makoto let her arm dangle loosely by her side and took a deep sigh. 

“Sorry, I just... thought it would be cute...” said Makoto in a resigned tone. 

“No worries, Mako. Are you doing alright?”

_Good question, Ren._

“I’m fine, really. Just a little preoccupied with whatever ‘surprise’ you have in store for me. It’s honestly making me a little nervous.” 

Ren noticed that Makoto was looking for an answer from him, but his surprise depended on her complete ignorance. It wouldn’t be as effective, he reasoned, if she knew in advance what to expect and how to react. She would probably immediately turn away, run home, and hide under her blanket covers for the remainder of the night, but Ren wanted to be there for Makoto as she conquered one of her biggest fears. 

Taking himself back to when he first proposed they have this sleepover, Ren remembered his initial inspiration: to be with the person he was closest to for the night, to share a bed together, and to let loose a little bit. He recalled when they went to the arcade in Shibuya, how engrossed Makoto got in the competition, so he prepared his video game console and the television in advance. He planned on teaching her the ways of the first-person shooter, but that, of course, wouldn’t be the only thing they would do together. That was just a part of the warm up. 

“Nothing to be nervous about, I promise!” reassured Ren. “It’ll only be a secret for a little while longer.” 

_A little while longer... Does he plan on us... doing it... soon?_

_Do people usually do it this early in the evening? At 6pm?_

Unable to hold it in, Makoto coughed loudly into her fist, signalling an interruption. 

“I came prepared, by the way,” said Makoto, as she coughed again. “You know, for the surprise.” 

Makoto began to unzip her bookbag, but Ren looked shocked. He immediately suspected, based on her coming prepared, that she had the wrong thing in mind, unless she happened to pick up another controller. In that case, maybe he could invite Futaba over for a bit, but she was already at home with Boss, likely preoccupied with something on her computer or having dinner together. 

“...What do you mean?” said Ren, his eyes squinted. 

“Well, I stopped at the drug store before I arrived to pick up a few things. Some snacks, gum, lipstick, and of course...” 

Makoto worked towards pulling out an item buried deep inside her bookbag, a small, already-opened box with a red stripe on the cover and a title in bold, golden letters: Sagami Original 0.01. 

She held the box up to Ren, to whom the brand name meant absolutely nothing. His cluelessness shocked Makoto, as she expected him to at least know, perhaps based on the size of the box, what she had just unveiled. Nevertheless, she continued demonstrating her purchase, believing it to be the right time to show him that she knew what kind of game he was playing and was smarter than she appeared. 

“These actually cost more than I expected, but the lady at the counter said they were the best and safest around, so I figured it was worth the splurge,” said Makoto, as she pulled out a tub and opened the lid. “You see, they are made of polyurethane, as an alternative to latex, a thin and transparent material that makes putting them on super smooth and comfortable.” 

“Is that...?”

“Wait, I haven’t even talked about the smell! So they’re odorless, so we won’t have to worry about any stinky smells. And the tub they came in is just so sweet and cute-looking, I couldn’t resist it,” Makoto said, putting the cute tub back together, then taking a deep exhale. “I hope you have somewhere safe you can keep these. If Sae found out I had these lying around, she’d kill me, or at the very least evict me.” 

Ren pulled himself together and looked his girlfriend directly in her eyes, but words failed to come to his mind in time. Instead, all he could say was her name, but even then, he had to drag her name out of his mouth. 

“Makoto...”

“What?”

“You bought...”

“Yes?” she interrupted, starting to worry.

“...condoms? For us?”

Makoto’s hands tensed up. She let the box of Sagami Originals fall to the floor in a sickening crunch, her face paralyzed with horror at his response.

“Was I not supposed to? Did I screw everything up?”

A tear formed under her right eyelid, but she wiped it away immediately, before Ren could notice. 

“Well... This isn’t what I was expecting, but I’m game if you are,” said Ren, stretching his arms above his head. He was beginning to find the humor in this misunderstanding. 

“You’re... ‘game?’”

“Well, you know, for the sex,” answered Ren. “With the condoms.” 

“Right...” said Makoto, still flustered, enough for Ren to pick up on her obvious discomfort. 

“Aren’t you suggesting with this purchase that we take our relationship to the next level? Study some things we don’t have experience in yet?” said Ren, with a cheeky grin. 

Makoto recognized Ren’s reference immediately.

“Not... necessarily. I only bought them because I thought that’s the surprise you had in mind for us, and I wanted to be safe and secure...”

Ren’s eyes widened, as he placed his hand behind Makoto’s head, cuffing her hair. 

“No! I mean, no, that wasn’t what I had in mind for us,” stuttered Ren. “I just... That’s awfully presumptuous of you, you know?”

“I got carried away, yes,” said Makoto, now leaning on Ren’s chest and sobbing a bit onto his flannel shirt. “I just, I’ve never been to a sleepover before, so I don’t know what people usually do during these things. Do they always have sex?” 

Ren facepalmed. 

“I’ve only been to one sleepover before, and we definitely didn’t have sex.” 

“You didn’t?” 

“No, it was over Ryuji’s.” 

Makoto nodded her head, feeling as if she must be stupid and wondering if it was too late to return the condoms to the drug store. She still had the receipt, after all, and it didn’t close for another couple hours. 

“Gotcha,” said Makoto, adjusting her face and wiping at her eyes. “So then... What _did_ you have in mind for us, now that we’ve gotten this awkwardness out of the way?”

From a reusable grocery bag in the booth beside them, Ren pulled out a few DVDs and controllers. 

“I just figured we could play games and watch some movies together, maybe cuddle and not think about the Phantom Thieves or school or anything like that,” said Ren, still reckoning with the fact that Makoto was, presumably, fine with what she had originally assumed. He felt an urgency to take advantage of the situation. “See, I bought this one zombie movie, called _Fright of the Living Dead_ -”

“No,” blurted out Makoto, stomping her foot on the floor. 

“Come on, you won’t even give it a shot?”

“You know I don’t like those types of movies!”

“But how do you plan on getting over that fear without-”

“I don’t. I am going to live with this fear for the rest of my life, and I am completely, totally fine with that.” 

“But-”

“No buts. No scary movies.”

“Okay,” said Ren, a bit resigned as he put the DVDs away. “Then what else are we supposed to do tonight?”

“Well...” Makoto looked down on the floor at the collapsed box of Sagami Originals. “No one is around for the rest of the night, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this fun little story! This is the first of two fics I'm publishing for Shumako Week 2020.


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